1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to boards used for aquatic sports such as surfing, and more particularly relates to an improved body board of the type where the rider lies down with his torso supported in the water by the body board, such as are commonly used for riding the waves on the seashore.
2. Background
Surfboards and body boards have been known for a long time and are in extensive use along seashores and coasts throughout the world. Recently, the so-called body boards have become popular and are used in great numbers by young and old, novice and expert, for fun at the beach. Unlike surfing, where a rider stands upright on a relatively long and narrow surfboard, a body board, is a relatively short, blunt nosed, and relatively wide board on which the rider lies down with his torso on the board and holds onto the sides of the board for riding the surf onto a beach. Riding a body board requires considerably less skill than surfing and is therefore accessible to wider participation.
Unlike a surfboard, a body board is relatively sluggish in response to body movements intended to steer the board in the water. A standing surfer can lean in the direction he wants to steer and is also free to step forward or backwards on the board to obtain a desired response from his craft. A rider of a body board does not have this freedom of movement since he is lying down on the board and will generally grasp the sides or forward end of the board with both hands simply to stay on the board. Thus, the steering of the board must be achieved by shifting the rider's weight through rolling movements over the board usually in conjunction with shifting the rider's grip along the sides of the board.
Conventional body boards have been found to be difficult to maneuver and are generally not nearly as responsive as conventional surfing boards. As the sport has gained wider acceptance, attempts have been made to make body boards more responsive by providing a small handle at the forward end of the board for improved steering. Such handles as have been heretofore provided have offered very limited improvement in control characteristics over the board and a need exists for further improvements in this area.
The handles heretofore provided have been relatively small, handles not large enough to be grasped with both hands, and requiring an unnatural, contorted, hand-over-hand grip at a fixed location on the board. The handles of the prior art are too small to allow any appreciable movement of the hand over the board to effect positive steering control over the board. In addition, these handles are made by looping a short length of flexible rope or cable. Such flexible handles in the form of a cable loop lack the rigidity necessary to permit the rider to develop good leverage against the board for maximum control, and are better suited for towing and carrying the board than for effectively steering the same.
Some boards are equipped with a leash attached to the forward end of the board and provided with a wrist strap attached to the rider's arm to prevent loss of the board in case of a spill.
It is particularly important to maintain control over the board while kicking into a wave from a standing start. Normal practice is to kick with the feet and paddle with one hand to enter the wave, so that only one hand is left for controlling the board. This critical maneuver is awkward with existing handles which do not allow the rider to grasp the handle at an advantageous point.